It is a process that measures certain aspects of information for a set of purpose. The assessment is delivered via a computer which is connected to a network. In most cases the assessment is an educational test. Online assessments contain aspects of one or more of the following parts, depending on the purpose of assessment: formative, diagnostic or summative. Immediate and detailed feedback is one of the benefits. Another benefit is the location and time flexibility as related with online assessments. There are a variety of resources available that provide online assessments, some are free and others that charge a fee or require a membership.

PURPOSE OF ASSESSMENTS
Assessments are an integral part of verifying learner achievement. They are used to determine the knowledge by learners and to determine of adjustments need to be made to either the teaching or learning process.

TYPES OF ONLINE ASSESSMENT
Online assessment is used mainly to measure cognitive abilities, illustrating what has been learned at the end of a chapter. An online portfolio (or ePortfolio) is used when assessing practical abilities or to demonstrate learning that has occurred over a period of time. When teaching an online assessment the first aspect that must be prepared is assessment. To determine whether learning is taking place, assessment is used. Assessment will also determine to what extend is learning taking place and if changes need to be made.

INDEPENDENT WORK
Independent work is work that a learner prepares to help the instructor in verifying their learning progress. Examples are: exercises, papers, portfolios and exams (multiple choice, true and false, short answer, fill in the blank, open ended/ essay or matching. When an educator evaluates, he or she must use multiple methods.
Most learners will not complete assignments unless there is (motivation). The educator should motivate the learners at all times. Feedback is the main point to assessment, whether the assessment is graded or not.

GROUP WORK
Learners often work in groups. This is another assessment strategy. Learners can be evaluated using collaborative learning model in which the learning is driven by the learners and cooperative learning model.

USES OF ONLINE ASSESSMENTS
Pre-Testing – A learner can complete an online pre-test to determine their level of knowledge. This type of assessment determines a baseline so that a summative assessment is given, a quantitative evidence is provided proving that learning has occurred.
Formative assessment- is used provide feedback during the learning process. In online assessment situations, objective questions are posed and feedback is provided to the learner either during or immediately after the assessment.
Practice Testing – Online practice tests are used to give learners an edge. Learners familiarize themselves with these types of assessments multiple times.
Surveys- Allows educators to collect data and feedback on any type of situation where the course or expensive needs justification or improvement.
Performance Testing – This is used to determine what the user know and what they can do. This type of testing is used to demonstrate technological proficiency reading comprehension, accounting skills etcetera. Gaps to identify in learner learning.

ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE ASSESSMENTS
Teachers can distribute a variety of the exams and assignments without monitoring it manually which learners got which test. This decreases cheating. The performance of a group can be evaluated against the individual where the teacher uses electronic assessments. When teachers are using report-generating capabilities it assists than to identify learning problem areas for the group and individual learner. Less storage is taken up by online assessments in terms of record keeping than paper. The teacher can store data on a single server. Questions styles on exams, including graphics can be mixed and matched. Graphics can be included and make them more in interactive than paper exams. Online assessments assists teachers to eliminate human error in grading.

DISADVANTAGES OF ONLINE ASSESSMENTS
Technology is not always reliable. If the system breaks down, information can be lost. Teachers require technical expertise to create exams. The amount of setting up an electronic assessment system is expensive. Testing is not suitable for essay writing and analysis or cognitive thinki

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